fix(rpc): Improve input validation and error handling (#13069)

* fix(rpc): Improve input validation and error handling

The `rpc-server` was vulnerable to Denial of Service attacks via
several RPC commands (`SET_TENSOR`, `GRAPH_COMPUTE`, etc.). Malformed
messages could trigger failed assertions (e.g., invalid `ggml_type`)
or out-of-bounds reads/writes leading to `GGML_ABORT` calls,
crashing the server process.

This PR introduces robust input validation and replaces `abort()`
calls with graceful error handling:

- **Type Validation:** `deserialize_tensor` now checks if the
  `tensor->type` is within the valid `GGML_TYPE_COUNT` range
  *before* calling `ggml_new_tensor_4d`. Returns `nullptr` on
  invalid type.
- **Bounds Checks:** Replaced `GGML_ABORT` in `set_tensor`,
  `set_tensor_hash`, and `get_tensor` handlers with error
  logging and returning `false` when data/offset parameters
  are out of buffer bounds.
- **Size Checks:** Added safe arithmetic checks (for overflow) in
  `graph_compute` when calculating required message sizes based
  on client-provided `n_nodes` and `n_tensors`. Returns early
  if the reported sizes conflict with the actual message size or
  would lead to overflow.
- **Error Propagation:**
    - `create_node` now checks for `nullptr` return values from
      `deserialize_tensor` and its recursive calls, propagating
      `nullptr` upwards on failure. Uses `find` instead of `at`
      for safer map access.
    - `copy_tensor` now checks for `nullptr` from `deserialize_tensor`
      and sets the response status to failure if deserialization
      or bounds checks fail.
    - `graph_compute` now checks for `nullptr` return from
      `create_node` and returns failure status correctly. The final
      return value now reflects the actual computation status.

These changes improve the RPC server's resilience
against malformed client requests, preventing crashes and ensuring
errors are handled more gracefully.

Signed-off-by: Ville Vesilehto <[email protected]>

* refactor(rpc): address pr comments

removed comments and unnecessary returns

Signed-off-by: Ville Vesilehto <[email protected]>

* refactor(rpc): ambiguous nullptr from create_node

rpc_server::create_node could previously return nullptr if the input ID
was 0 (valid) or if an internal error (deserialization, recursion
failure) occurred (invalid). This ambiguity made error handling
difficult for the caller (`graph_compute`).

This commit clarifies the meaning of nullptr:
- `graph_compute` now checks if the input 'id' was non-zero when
  `create_node` returns nullptr, correctly identifying failures
  versus intentional null links.
- `create_node` avoids recursive calls for zero IDs and propagates
  nullptr unambiguously on failure during recursion.

Signed-off-by: Ville Vesilehto <[email protected]>

* refactor(rpc): initial zero check in create_node

The caller (`graph_compute`) already checks `id != 0` when handling
a `nullptr` return from `create_node`, correctly distinguishing
intentional null links from actual errors. This makes the initial
`if (id == 0)` check redundant.

Also removes the log message when a tensor ID is not found in the
provided map which was added in this branch.

Signed-off-by: Ville Vesilehto <[email protected]>

* fix(rpc): Handle get_alloc_size failure in server

Check the return value of `server.get_alloc_size` in the RPC server
loop. If the call fails, return early to close the connection.

Signed-off-by: Ville Vesilehto <[email protected]>

* refactor(rpc): input size validation in graph_compute

Removes detailed, step-by-step size calculations and overflow
checks in favor of simpler direct comparisons, assuming 64-bit
overflow is unlikely.

Signed-off-by: Ville Vesilehto <[email protected]>

* refactor(rpc): remove extra status code setting

Removes the explicit setting of `response.result = GGML_STATUS_FAILED`
when `create_node` returns `nullptr` within `graph_compute`.
Primary signal is the `false` return value in case of failure.

Signed-off-by: Ville Vesilehto <[email protected]>

* refactor(rpc): remove redundant check for tensor->type

Breaks CI on ubuntu-cpu-make. Tensor type is uint32_t, thus
the check is not needed.

Signed-off-by: Ville Vesilehto <[email protected]>

---------

Signed-off-by: Ville Vesilehto <[email protected]>

Author: thevilledev

ggml/src/ggml-rpc/ggml-rpc.cpp

@@ -982,8 +982,21 @@ bool rpc_server::buffer_clear(const rpc_msg_buffer_clear_req & request) {
 }
 
 ggml_tensor * rpc_server::deserialize_tensor(struct ggml_context * ctx, const rpc_tensor * tensor) {
+    // Validate tensor type before using it
+    if (tensor->type >= GGML_TYPE_COUNT) {
+        GGML_LOG_ERROR("[%s] invalid tensor type received: %u\n", __func__, tensor->type);
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+
     ggml_tensor * result = ggml_new_tensor_4d(ctx, (ggml_type) tensor->type,
         tensor->ne[0], tensor->ne[1], tensor->ne[2], tensor->ne[3]);
+
+    // ggml_new_tensor_4d might fail if dimensions are invalid, although less likely to crash than invalid type
+    if (result == nullptr) {
+        GGML_LOG_ERROR("[%s] ggml_new_tensor_4d failed for type %u\\n", __func__, tensor->type);
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+
     for (uint32_t i = 0; i < GGML_MAX_DIMS; i++) {
         result->nb[i] = tensor->nb[i];
     }
@@ -1043,7 +1056,9 @@ bool rpc_server::set_tensor(const std::vector<uint8_t> & input) {
         const size_t p1 = p0 + ggml_backend_buffer_get_size(tensor->buffer);
 
         if (in_tensor->data + offset < p0 || in_tensor->data + offset >= p1 || size > (p1 - in_tensor->data - offset)) {
-            GGML_ABORT("[%s] tensor->data out of bounds\n", __func__);
+            GGML_LOG_ERROR("[%s] tensor data region (data=0x%" PRIx64 ", offset=%" PRIu64 ", size=%zu) out of buffer bounds [0x%zx, 0x%zx)\n",
+                           __func__, in_tensor->data, offset, size, p0, p1);
+            return false;
         }
     }
 
@@ -1118,7 +1133,9 @@ bool rpc_server::set_tensor_hash(const std::vector<uint8_t> & input, rpc_msg_set
         const size_t p1 = p0 + ggml_backend_buffer_get_size(tensor->buffer);
 
         if (in_tensor->data + offset < p0 || in_tensor->data + offset >= p1 || size > (p1 - in_tensor->data - offset)) {
-            GGML_ABORT("[%s] tensor->data out of bounds\n", __func__);
+            GGML_LOG_ERROR("[%s] tensor data region (data=0x%" PRIx64 ", offset=%" PRIu64 ", size=%zu, hash=0x%" PRIx64 ") out of buffer bounds [0x%zx, 0x%zx)\n",
+                           __func__, in_tensor->data, offset, size, *hash, p0, p1);
+            return false;
         }
     }
     ggml_backend_tensor_set(tensor, cached_file.data(), offset, size);
@@ -1183,7 +1200,9 @@ bool rpc_server::get_tensor(const rpc_msg_get_tensor_req & request, std::vector<
         if (request.tensor.data + request.offset < p0 ||
             request.tensor.data + request.offset >= p1 ||
             request.size > (p1 - request.tensor.data - request.offset)) {
-                GGML_ABORT("[%s] tensor->data out of bounds\n", __func__);
+                GGML_LOG_ERROR("[%s] requested tensor region (data=0x%" PRIx64 ", offset=%" PRIu64 ", size=%" PRIu64 ") out of buffer bounds [0x%zx, 0x%zx)\n",
+                               __func__, request.tensor.data, request.offset, request.size, p0, p1);
+                return false;
         }
     }
 
@@ -1237,22 +1256,50 @@ ggml_tensor * rpc_server::create_node(uint64_t id,
                                       struct ggml_context * ctx,
                                       const std::unordered_map<uint64_t, const rpc_tensor*> & tensor_ptrs,
                                       std::unordered_map<uint64_t, struct ggml_tensor*> & tensor_map) {
-    if (id == 0) {
-        return nullptr;
-    }
     if (tensor_map.find(id) != tensor_map.end()) {
         return tensor_map[id];
     }
-    const rpc_tensor * tensor = tensor_ptrs.at(id);
+    // Safely find the tensor pointer
+    auto it_ptr = tensor_ptrs.find(id);
+    if (it_ptr == tensor_ptrs.end()) {
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+    const rpc_tensor * tensor = it_ptr->second;
+
     struct ggml_tensor * result = deserialize_tensor(ctx, tensor);
     if (result == nullptr) {
         return nullptr;
     }
     tensor_map[id] = result;
     for (int i = 0; i < GGML_MAX_SRC; i++) {
-        result->src[i] = create_node(tensor->src[i], ctx, tensor_ptrs, tensor_map);
+        // Check if the source ID is 0 before calling create_node recursively
+        if (tensor->src[i] == 0) {
+            result->src[i] = nullptr;
+        } else {
+            result->src[i] = create_node(tensor->src[i], ctx, tensor_ptrs, tensor_map);
+            // If the recursive call failed for a non-zero ID, propagate the error
+            if (result->src[i] == nullptr) {
+                GGML_LOG_ERROR("[%s] failed to create source node %d (src_id=%" PRIu64 ") for node id %" PRIu64 "\n",
+                               __func__, i, tensor->src[i], id);
+                // Must return nullptr to signal failure up the call stack
+                return nullptr;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Handle view_src similarly
+    if (tensor->view_src == 0) {
+        result->view_src = nullptr;
+    } else {
+        result->view_src = create_node(tensor->view_src, ctx, tensor_ptrs, tensor_map);
+        // If the recursive call failed for a non-zero ID, propagate the error
+        if (result->view_src == nullptr) {
+            GGML_LOG_ERROR("[%s] failed to create view_src node (view_src_id=%" PRIu64 ") for node id %" PRIu64 "\n",
+                           __func__, tensor->view_src, id);
+            // Must return nullptr to signal failure up the call stack
+            return nullptr;
+        }
     }
-    result->view_src = create_node(tensor->view_src, ctx, tensor_ptrs, tensor_map);
     result->view_offs = tensor->view_offs;
     return result;
 }
@@ -1278,6 +1325,7 @@ bool rpc_server::graph_compute(const std::vector<uint8_t> & input, rpc_msg_graph
     GGML_PRINT_DEBUG("[%s] n_nodes: %u, n_tensors: %u\n", __func__, n_nodes, n_tensors);
 
     size_t buf_size = ggml_tensor_overhead()*(n_nodes + n_tensors) + ggml_graph_overhead_custom(n_nodes, false);
+
     struct ggml_init_params params = {
         /*.mem_size   =*/ buf_size,
         /*.mem_buffer =*/ NULL,
@@ -1297,6 +1345,14 @@ bool rpc_server::graph_compute(const std::vector<uint8_t> & input, rpc_msg_graph
         int64_t id;
         memcpy(&id, &nodes[i], sizeof(id));
         graph->nodes[i] = create_node(id, ctx, tensor_ptrs, tensor_map);
+
+        // Check if create_node failed for a *non-zero* ID.
+        // If id was 0, create_node returning nullptr is expected.
+        // If id was non-zero and create_node returned nullptr, it indicates a deserialization error.
+        if (graph->nodes[i] == nullptr && id != 0) {
+            GGML_LOG_ERROR("[%s] failed to create graph node %d (id=%" PRId64 ")\n", __func__, i, id);
+            return false;
+        }
     }
     ggml_status status = ggml_backend_graph_compute(backend, graph);
     response.result = status;
@@ -1361,7 +1417,9 @@ static void rpc_serve_client(ggml_backend_t backend, const char * cache_dir,
                     return;
                 }
                 rpc_msg_get_alloc_size_rsp response;
-                server.get_alloc_size(request, response);
+                if (!server.get_alloc_size(request, response)) {
+                    return;
+                }
                 if (!send_msg(sockfd, &response, sizeof(response))) {
                     return;
                 }